Month: November 2010

Facebook is banned in China; I would assume it’s the same thing in North Korea. By the way my cousin been to South Korea by God’s grace last august and according to her it is a very nice place. A lot of locals that she talked to said they have relatives at the other side of the fence. War for them is non-sense but they have to be prepared. I think South Korea is not aggressive by her stories & observations when she was there. Come to think of it, they basically supply more than 50% of the food and power of North Korea. Moreover the guy in charge in North Korea has been just a total dictator (I suppose a lot of people in this world hate dictators), he should step down and let the people have a good life (but this of course is close to impossibility).

In the Korean War, the North Koreans were the one who crossed the 38th Parallel. History shows that the North Korean have been the aggressors hence the very reason why they are trying to create a very strong army. On the issue of the starvation in North Korea, of course North Korea will try to suppress any information that would put them on a bad light. But check on stories of those journalists who was able to get into North Korea and you’ll see why North Korea is getting desperate to get the embargo lifted. The embargo is there because an aggressive country like North Korea (put Iran also) has no right to have nuclear capability.

North Korea has been spending so much on their military but hasn’t done anything to ease the lingering starvation of their people. The best thing for that country now is to get Kim Jong Il overthrown. Liberal democracies will never go to war with each other = true or false? Liberal democracies still differ in terms of social values/culture, and I feel that decisions to go to war depend more on the culture/attitudes of the people, rather than the country’s type of political system. And not all countries and their people have reached a level where they are completely averse to the concept of war. They are characterized by rule of law, constitutional guarantee for various freedoms, and in a general a more tolerant society that is less prone to military action. They aren’t the same as illiberal democracies.

There hasn’t been any precedence in history where a liberal democracy has invaded another. But this doesn’t necessarily mean that it will never happen in future (I hope not!).The absence of evidence doesn’t imply the evidence of absence. This ‘democratic peace’ concept is just a tool to further the interests of existing liberal democracies. If the whole world was a single communist state, there would be no war to fight too, unless aliens come and fight us.

But in any case, if there was really an answer to this question, political science wouldn’t be called political science. It would be called science. I find it hard to believe if certain liberal democracies can justify war with non-democracies based on this concept. In reality, liberal democracy still has too many loopholes that one cannot safely trust democratic peace concept, the masses can really be asses.

A million points for originality!Well they did add yellow!the sun eventually metamorphosing to a yellow ribbon by sunset...Why the big fuss? According to the Supreme Court, it isn't plagiarism if no malice was intended. 😉

I’m disappointed with the new DOT campaign! They should have consulted all sorts of people and did a study prior to launching. Pilipinas Kay Ganda sounds like an ABS CBN show….sorry! 😦 Honestly, it seems like a combination of the morning and noontime shows of ABSCBN. And besides, how do we expect non-Tagalog speakers (and I mean the foreigners and the Bisaya, the Ilonggo, the Ilocan, among others) to understand the line? Is this the best that the lackluster Aquino government can do to promote our country? Why change Wow! Philippines? I always thought it to be simple, direct, and catchy. I thought it was on par with “Malaysia Truly Asia” and “Seoul, the Soul of Korea”. I don’t like this new line one bit, the first line of the article says it best: it’s a hard-sell line.

Lessons here: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And, branding is about consistency. The brand name is PHILIPPINES. That’s the name the entire world is aware of.The Philippine Government (Student Council) wants to re-brand PHILIPPINES? They confuse witty sloganeering to Branding? Who is advising them?”Pilipinas Kay Ganda” sounds barok. We hear people say “Umagang Kay Ganda” but “Pilipinas Kay Ganda”?If the slogan was meant to attract foreigners, why is it in Tagalog? Wow Philippines was much better.It should’ve been in English too..not very effective if it’s in a language only the locals know.Think out of the box? I think it’s a case of thinking too much and losing the common sense.Seems to me what’s going on is …always work-in-progress. How I wish they hired real pros in marketing and in marketing communication rather than friends from the election and yet, the website (already pulled out by the DOT) is in english http://www.beautifulphilippines.com. Isn’t “being beautiful” is what everyone wants to say? They should have given a unique selling proposition about the Philippines. This line is lame. I couldn’t help but think that the only reason they changed the “Wow! Philippines” line because it is associated with the former President Arroyo and Senator Gordon.

Half of time selling this to foreigners will be explaining what ‘Pilipinas kay Ganda’ translates to. By the time we’ve explained, they would have probably booked flights to Malaysia or Thailand already. Common sense!After spending so much time and effort to build the old “Wow! Philippines” brand, they’re gonna replace it with this?

They could have done better with the old “Mabuhay! Philippines!” slogan. They said that it’s a departure from… what our neighbors are doing, but what they’re doing works. It’s a hard sell, it’ll make their tourists go coz they don’t know what it means. Mabuhay at least is on par with “Aloha!” or “Ni hao!”, and “Wow!” unfortunately, we were working on making that phrase associated with the Philippines,”Pilipinas Kay Ganda” sounds like we’re competing amongst ourselves when we should be out there competing with our white sands and beaches… to that of Malaysia and Thailand’s. There’s absolutely no international appeal to this tagline when the whole world is suppose to be our market. I surely hope this is not the best they can do.There is such a thing we call as benchmarking. The Philippine tourism officials have to benchmark our campaign to destinations similar to ours such as Thailand, Malaysia and even Indonesia. Only then after the benchmarking coupled with the basic SWOTs of this world can we truly compete. Given that the SWOTs are done in a professional way, we would realize that despite our Strengths, the Weaknesses outweigh it. That way, we can address the Opportunities. But I think the O will not be concertized considering the Aquino government has fallen in-love with budget cuts. We really need to have that nation-branding asap.This is the perfect example of how comfortable the aquino administration is with mediocrity. If they need help to get their work done right, maybe they should try hiring/asking for help from the opposition, if they really mean well.

Amazing Thailand… Malaysia, Truly Asia… Your Singapore… Hi Seoul, Soul of Asia… Discover Hong Kong… Incredible India…The competition is tough and that’s what they came up with?Now, a pop quiz. What’s common among the slogans that I just enumerated? THE USE OF ENGLISH! The universal language of Tourism! Why did the DOT miss this? I think it’s another example of the contradictory nature of our culture: we want to be unique yet we choose to mimic the ideas of other countries like the US because we think they’re “better”. We are known for our hospitality and friendliness, why can’t we go back to that? President Aquino had a hand in making the logo? And all along I thought he was a macro-manager. He should leave marketing to the experts. But it seems that he has surrounded himself with mediocre people. What a waste of time and money. And, not to belittle the cute animal, but why a tarsier in logo? ‎”The DOT is set to roll out the final version of the new Brand Philippines by February 2011. Those behind the new logo and slogan, it seems, will have more time to decide if President Noynoy Aquino’s personal touches on the logo—the smiling coconut tree and the tarsier embracing the first “i” of “Pilipinas”—stays.” The tarsier thing could be traced to the fact that it’s unique to our country, on top of being cute when turned into a cartoon/caricature. Think koala of the Philippines.

The tree is okay, I think I’d rather use just that and leave the tarsier out. Then again, overall, the logo sucks ass. As Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said, the people behind this did not use their neurons. If I were Pres. Aquino and Sec. Bertie Lim, I would borrow the invisibility cloak of Harry Potter.

You have earned my respect, Manny. 8 titles in 8 different divisions are no mere feats. Congratulations Manny PACQUIAO!! You make us proud!!! You looked like you didn’t want to totally knock out the enemy. Haha!!:0) you are so humble & kind. Also very prayerful. We are soooo PROUD!!! Mommy Dionisia raised you well. :0) David Vs Goliath! this time Goliath was Manny and David is Margarito – He missed his slingshot aim this time!!! :)President Obama wants to know if they can build a huge Manny Pacquiao statue to scare off Mexicans from illegally crossing the US border.Or they can also put up statues of banged up Margarito, de la Joya, Marquez, Morales, Cotto, Barrera, Diaz, Hatton and Clottey across the length of the US border, like those banged up cars they put at railroad crossings to remind motorists.

Poor me I just watched it on live streaming on the internet . The scores were 120-108, 118-110 and 119-109 in favor of the Sarangani Province congressman.Not only did he beat margarito, he destroyed him, I watched the whole fight..you couldn’t even see his face.

Pacquiao overcame a larger opponent just by persevering. Something we Filipinos should look at. We will never get to see success if we expect it in an instant. The road may be long, but the reward may be tremendous.Tremendously classy and compassionate guy. He spared Margarito serious damage (if not the worst) in those final rounds. That fight should have been stopped. I wish people here (myself included) could fully understand how important he is for your country and our world. We’ve waited a long time to see a champion like Manny Pacquiao. Such a pleasure to cheer for. I hope he becomes even greater outside the ring than in it…as hard as that is to imagine.

This new Facebook (FB) font size is JUST TOO SMALL for my eye-glass-wearing eyes! So it’s easier to ignore annoying status updates? And actually placed it below the profile name so we can stop referring to ourselves in third person. hahaha! I guess it’s up to us to make the content compelling enough to read despite the small typeface. :p FB should have an option inside its platform to minimize or maximize the font size depending on the user’s need…Some consideration please dear Mark Zuckerberg!:( Please give us lowly people the option to adjust the font size depending on our own capacity to see things clearly.

I almost fell off my seat when I read that Mai Mislang was a cum laude graduate from University of the Philippines in tourism course, batch 2007. This means she is scholar ng bayan and as such, the taxpayers shouldered her education. She may have academic excellence but she is surely lacking on the basic values of what education is for. I remember in elementary and high school, we were taught Good Manners & Right Conduct (GMRC). This helped us with the proper way we should behave in public. This Mai Mislang ostensibly Lacks Breeding and without meaning to be sarcastic, I think she also needs our Compassion because she obviously was NOT taught GMRC in school nor in her home by her parents.

I cannot imagine all these people seating in high places who does not have any clue on what is GOOD MANNERS AND RIGHT CONDUCT.Mai Mislang is not a kid, she’s an assistant secretary in the Philippine government ! In her linked-in profile, she stated that she’s a communications expert. How can you be holding that post & supposedly be in the fields of public relations and communications when you do not even know respect & tact.Secretary Ricky Carandang, defended Mai Mislang, it appears that people working with President Noynoy Aquino have NO respect for the positions they occupy in Government under his administration. At DILG, there is Under Secretary Rico Puno. Now, at the Office of the President in Malacanang, there is Asst . Sec. Mai Mislang. The Palace speechwriter and her boss, Sec. Ricky Carandang, are a DISGRACE to the Philippines and the Filipino people. That is what happens when
young and puerile people are appointed to high positions in Government they apparently do not even deserve. It obviously cheapens the rank of their positions.

Twitter is another medium – highly public & instantaneous at that. Public officials (especially alter egos of their appointing power) risk hurting sensitivities or breaching confidentiality when tweeting. Twitter has a “breaking news” element, but unfortunately speed comes at the price of thoughtfulness. I was told this Apparently she’s deleted her Twitter account already. But the sad thing, her tweets prior to the Vietnam snafu are still cached in cyberspace.Let’s not slide to complacency and take the blunders of the Philippine government, not least the Executive Department, people paid by the public are not there to commit basic mistakes. Have we not learned our lesson from the one who originally said “I am sorry” on TV? Let’s have ZERO TOLERANCE for avoidable mistakes. The sin of Mai Mislang is clearly AVOIDABLE that is why it is so SERIOUS.